


Immortals

by Vauvenal



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Heartless (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Heartless Attacks (Kingdom Hearts), Post-Canon, background oc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vauvenal/pseuds/Vauvenal
Summary: Albeit the war is over, Isa still has his own battle to fight, against himself and a new enemy that's threatening to destroy the place he now calls home.Title: "Immortals" by Fallout BoyFor the KH Big Bang.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	Immortals

During the light of dawn, Twilight Town's red brick pavement gets an almost grayish tinge to it as the sun chases away night's shadows. There's not much going on in the streets at this hour, save for some birds chirping their little tunes and the sound of a single bicycle racing up and down the hills of the town.

Isa wipes the sweat off his brow and checks the time as he delivers the final copy of today's newspaper. Five thirty-three in the morning – he's early today, a good opportunity to get a fresh cup of coffee at the bakery around the corner and then stop by Lea's place for breakfast.

Isa has never considered himself much of an ordinary guy who'd have an ordinary life – but after his time with the Organization and all the action surrounding that, it's kind of nice to get some peace and quiet, some time off from Keyblade wars, Heartless infestations and people messing around with other people's minds and memories.

Sometimes, he almost wonders what happened to the others. If they died, if they returned to their human selves … where they are now, what their lives are like …

But only sometimes, and surely not now. Now, he chains his bike to a lamp post and enters the bakery, greeting the vendor with a tiny smile.

“ Morning, Elise. How are you doing?”

She smiles back, hands already at work, setting up Isa's usual order. “I'm fine, thank you,” she replies, loading the coffee maker with a healthy pile of grounds. “You're pretty early today. I literally just got done preheating the machine.”

Isa smiles at her and then takes a look at his reflection in the window pane, opening and refastening his wind-torn ponytail. “Yes, I've been pretty quick today,” he mumbles with the hairband between his lips and then turns back to her to accept his coffee – black with sugar and a small dollop of whipped cream on top.

For a few minutes, there's a comfortable silence in the store as he drinks his coffee and watches the town around them slowly rise – the old man who lives on the hill taking his daily jog, a delivery truck bringing in new stock to the little ice cream parlour downtown and at least a dozen people walking their dogs before starting their own work days.

He stretches, the vertebrae in his neck giving an audible  _ crack _ , making both him and Elise wince a little. She pulls a face.

“ You should take better care of yourself. If your spine is making noises like that, it can't be a good thing!”

For a long moment, Isa falls quiet, considers explaining how badly he’s been sleeping, how nightmares haunt him and how he wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night and has to pull the curtains shut to escape the cold glow of the moonlight. It reminds him of the light of Kingdom Hearts, once a pleasant warmth he sought after with all his might that now, in his dreams, sears his flesh and reminds him of the blood he spilt and the lives he took in a desperate attempt to reclaim his own. in these dreams, he stands tall above his victims, his claymore in hand, eyes glowing with an eerie gold like a predator, adrenaline from the hunt rushing through his very core. 

Every time.

Every time he wakes up, he clutches his knees, tries to tell himself that that wasn’t him, that it was someone else who did all those horrific things - but in the end, he knows. And there are no excuses and no escape from what he’s done.

He doesn't tell her, just dismisses the comment with a wave of his hand. “Don't worry about me. … I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

She squints, yet doesn’t to question it. “Anyway, what’s today’s order?”

“Five brioche rolls and a whole-grain loaf.”

“You trying to feed a family?”

“I’m visiting Lea for breakfast.”

“So you _are_ trying to feed a family.” She grins at him and wraps the rolls and bread into brown wrapping paper. “Alright, that’ll be 1290 munny. Coffee’s on the house today.”

Isa reaches into his pocket and pulls out three slightly crumpled 500 munny bills. “Keep the change. And thanks for the coffee.”

With a large gulp, he downs the rest of his drink and clears his throat at Elise’s still wrinkled brow, flashing her an earnest, mild smile. “I’m okay. I promise.”

-

Isa breathes a sigh of relief once he’s closed the door of the bakery behind himself. He really doesn’t want to talk to anyone about this - even though a tiny, nagging voice keeps insisting he should - because well … he doesn’t want anyone to know what lurks inside his heart and soul. The darkness clawing at his heart and the inner flame that needs to be kept down at all times so it doesn’t just consume him. 

He shakes his head about himself and gets back on his bike to visit Lea.

-

In one of the alleys near the tram common, there’s a small house built from red and ochre bricks, with white curtains fluttering out of the open windows. It almost looks a little squished between the larger buildings, but it’s comfortable and more than enough for Lea, Roxas and Xion to share. 

Isa knows their routine almost as well as his own, has joined them for breakfast countless times. Xion would always water the flowers at the window before breakfast, just as the first rays of sunlight are sneaking into the alley, touching the leaves and coaxing the blossoms to open. Roxas would hop onto the windowsill and hand her a cup of coffee - the white one with the black lettering saying “The Early Bird Needs Coffee”. Isa got it for her birthday (they decided to just declare a random day as “another day to eat cake”) and it still warms his heart whenever he sees her with it. 

She always sits down next to Roxas, bare feet dangling above the pavement until Isa’s bike rounds the corner and Roxas runs off to open the door for him - usually he doesn’t bother putting on anything but his white pajamas (with sleeves too long for him because they didn’t have his size, but he loved the checkerboard lining so much he bought it anyway and just rolls up the sleeves to brag with the pretty fabric).

“Morning, Isa!” Roxas says and raises his cup in greeting. “I hope you brought enough bread to feed the beast?”

“Has Lea been out that long?” Isa replies with a chuckle as he locks his bike to a lamppost.

“Yeah, been a long night. He’s still asleep, but the coffee’s already done if you want a cup.”

“You’re saying it like you’re expecting a ‘no thanks’.” Isa gently punches his shoulder. “Let me past so I can help you guys with breakfast.”

Roxas smiles at him and the two of them make their way upstairs where Xion is already busy heating up more water for another load of coffee while a few strips of bacon are sizzling on the stovetop.

When she notices Isa and Roxas coming in, she immediately turns to Isa and hugs him in greeting - a gesture Isa likes and treasures even though he’s never quite sure if it’s sincere or just an attempt to patch old wounds. Nonetheless, he hugs her back and hides his melancholy behind a smile.

Together, the three of them prepare breakfast, and soon Lea comes trudging down the stairs in nothing but a pair of pajama pants and a towel around his shoulders. His hair is still wet from the shower, hanging in thick, red curtains down the sides of his face.

“... mornin’ …” he grumbles and drops himself into a chair. “‘sup, Isa.”

It’s not a question, Isa knows that. Lea isn’t awake enough to actually process any kind of answer anyway, so Isa just quietly pours him a cup of coffee - which is actually two thirds milk - and pats his shoulder.

“How about you try to join us among the living before you try to make conversation.”

“Mmngh.”

The joke and the sleepy response make Xion chuckle and Roxas laugh (which earns him a weak slap on the back of his head from Lea).

It’s comfortable. Homey. Familiar. … yet he can’t help but feel like he doesn’t belong, like he doesn’t deserve this, like he should suffer just as much as he made them suffer.

They all do their best to judge each other for what they’ve become and not for what they were, but he’s done so much worse than all of them combined, how could he possibly sit with them and laugh with them again and again?

They proceed to talking about their day. Once the caffeine kicks in, Lea opens up to become his usual quirky self, to laugh with them, punch Isa’s shoulder and perform excellent comedy by imitating the weird customers he tends to get during his late shifts. 

Xion shows off her newest works - she’s taken up still-life drawing lately. “It’s a work in progress,” she admits meekly and Roxas pats her back. 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s looking great.”

Isa nods in approval - and it fills his heart with a bittersweet warmth to see that the person Saïx (or he himself? He tries not to think about it too hard) showed so much disdain for has become such a creative girl, so kind-hearted and lively.

His days pass on like this, a blur of delivering newspapers, visiting Lea, Roxas and Xion and trying to distract his mind from thinking about his past … but it never stops. It’s a fire in the back of his mind, scorching his very core while he’s desperately trying to keep it out of his life, to override it by filling his days to the brim until he collapses onto his pillow at night, so tired that he sometimes doesn’t even manage to take off his clothes.

If he’s lucky, the nightmares don’t haunt him.

He rarely is.

-

His bed is freshly made, the pillow fluffed up and the covers just off the clothesline. He’s had a cup of espresso, the toasty scent surrounding his senses and the bittersweet taste calming his mind, soothing him, hopefully enough to let him have a few precious hours of undisturbed sleep. He stares out of his window, watching the clouds dart past the crescent moon high in the sky. The lights of the town are decaying one by one as the citizens lay down their heads onto their pillows to let sleep take them away to pleasant dreams.

Oh how he _wishes_ it would be that easy.

_ His skin feels like it’s on fire as green eyes pierce his golden ones. Axel bares his teeth in a terrifying grimace and Saix almost believes he could incinerate him with his gaze alone. Flames dance around them, scorching the edges of his coat, filling the air with the stench of burnt hair and ashes as embers burn on his cheeks like little stabs of tiny needles. Through the roaring blaze, Xion’s and Roxas’ laughter reaches his ears. _

_The fire engulfs him and the last thing he sees before his body and conscience turn to ashes is Axel’s_ grin, _jagged and devilish as if its been slashed into his face with a blade._

_ Goodbye, Isa. _

He awakes in cold sweat and spends yet another night restless, staring out of the window waiting for his day to begin and the cycle to start anew, a cycle of desperate distractions, attempts to enjoy life - but way too often, it ends in him falling through the cracks of his memories into the darkest pits of his night terrors.

Rain is battering against his window. 

_It’s going to be a cold day_ , he thinks to himself while brewing his morning cup and lazily slathering jam on a couple slices of toast. After breakfast, he grabs his raincoat and helmet and hops onto his bike. 

The storm smacks his face with raindrops that blur his sight while he’s riding through the streets. The dark puddles and the heavy clouds and street lamps being mirrored in them almost seem like living beings, creatures crawling out of the sewer, shadows coming to life.

… wait.

He hits the brakes and his bike screeches to a halt on the slippery pavement. Through the curtain of rain he sees a pair of golden, glowing eyes. And another. And then another. Dozens of Shadow Heartless creep out from the darkest spots of the town, the depths of the puddles and the cracks in the pavement. They stare at him with their soulless eyes, devoid of any and all emotions except for their insatiable _hunger_.

For a few precious seconds, Isa just stands and stares until the crack of a lightning bolt snaps him out of his daze and he gets back onto his bike.

_I have to get Lea. He’ll know what to do. He and Roxas and Xion. They have Keyblades. They can help. I can’t ..._ A lump forms in his throat, his breathing going flat. _I can’t help_ , he thinks to himself as he speeds through the streets, _I’m useless_ is what echoes in his mind as a Shadow jumps at him and he has to grab it by the neck to tear it away from his coat. For the fraction of a second, its piercing eyes meet his own and the thought of _even back then, I was of more use to anyone than now_ strikes him. It spurs him on like a gunshot.

His lungs are burning by the time he reaches their home. He doesn’t bother looking at the time, it doesn’t matter now, all that matters is that he is ringing the doorbell, slamming his fists on the door as hard as he can and screaming their names at the top of his lungs. His cheeks are wet, but he can’t tell if it’s tears or rain running down his face, dripping off his chin. 

Finally, someone opens the door for him, it’s Xion, a concerned look behind the veil of sleepiness. She squints and rubs her eyes, looking him up and down. “Isa …? What are you doing here at this hour?” Her gaze falls onto the torn sleeve of his coat. A thin trail of blood is running down his hand - he hadn’t even noticed. “… holy shit, you’re bleeding! Are you okay? You look awful, come in, I-”

“No!” he barks. “I … Heartless. Everywhere. Get Lea. Get Roxas. I … I need your help.”

Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t seem to look at Isa, she just grabs him by the collar and yanks him inside, slamming the door shut behind his back. The claws of a Shadow slip across the door’s glass window, striking the air where Isa’s head has just been. “Come with me. Upstairs. We’ll wake the others and see what we can do.” She grabs a chair from beside the door, blocking the entrance with it.

Despite the hour - it’s barely four - everyone is up and more or less dressed in a matter of minutes. Lea’s hair is tied into a messy ponytail and Roxas is making coffee (obviously trying to still his shaking hands), his brow furrowed in worry. Xion is staring out of the window and watches the Heartless creep around in the dusky alleyways. 

“Good thing it’s so early. The townsfolk will be safe for a little longer while we figure this out.”

Isa shakes his head. “It might be early, but if these things multiply, it doesn’t matter what time it is, they’re still going to get into the houses and kill everyone in town,” he rasps, following the Shadows outside with his eyes.

Lea puts a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, so let’s get to it, shall we? No time to waste. Now we have this problem and now we gotta deal with it. So let’s deal with it. I’m not gonna let these little creeps destroy our new home. Right, Isa?”

Isa drags his face into a tired smile at the implication that Twilight Town is now his home, too - he fights the disbelief in his voice and just replies: “... yeah. Right. But … what do we _do_?”

“Easy, we beat ‘em up, save the town and celebrate.” Lea punches one hand into the other and grins.

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy,” Xion interrupts, looking around their little group. “We’re just four people and only three of us have keyblades” - Isa bites his lower lip and casts his eyes aside - “and we have no idea how many Heartless are waiting out there. We need to get help.” 

She reaches for her gummiphone, quickly finding Riku’s number before any of the others can even say anything. The empty beep of someone not picking up his phone fills the room and with every passing second, the furrow in Xion’s brow grows deeper.

“Guess we’re on our own,” Roxas rasps, hands clutching his cup until his knuckles go white.

Isa steadies himself on the windowsill, surveying the town below them with attentive eyes. “... they have to come from somewhere. Heartless don’t just spontaneously pop up. There _has_ to be an opening somewhere, a portal. This world” - his eyes widen and he turns around to the group - “… it’s still _connected_.”   
  
Crossing his arms, Lea tilts his head to one side and nods. “So we have to go tear the problem out by its roots. Makes sense.” He scratches his chin. “But how to go about this? There’s just four of us, after all - and a bunch of small alleyways to search …”

“I don’t like to say this …” Isa looks the three of them up and down. “But we should split up. That way, we can look for the source more efficiently and maybe eliminate it before the town is completely overrun.”

“I’m going with you,” Lea states matter-of-factly before anyone else can voice their opinion and grabs Isa’s shoulder. 

Isa flinches a bit, but nonetheless smiles at him, as earnestly as he can manage. Isn’t that how it’s always been, bright, shining Lea pulling him out of his pessimism and filling his days with life and light … and dragging him into danger.

“... I think it would be smartest if you and I and Roxas and Xion formed teams, yes.”

Roxas nods in agreement, eyes flitting to the window. He takes a deep breath and looks over to Xion who returns his gesture. “So, what are we waiting for?”

Swiftly, everyone gathers their necessities and slips into their shoes. Lea’s hand is steady on Isa’s shoulder.

They move out and separate into their teams, plunging into the streets of Twilight Town to find a way to save their home.

-

As the dimly lit backstreets swallow the forms of Roxas and Xion, Isa feels a lump form in his throat. Now it’s just Lea’s Keyblade between them and certain death, and somehow, that thought is much less reassuring than it should be. Lea’s fighting style is still very reminiscent of Axel’s, despite his weapon being as different as his motivation. He’s still this barely controlled tornado of fire that burns everything in its wake, charring his way through the masses of Heartless.

Isa’s job is it to keep him in check ( _isn’t that how it’s always been?_ , he thinks for a brief moment), to yell warnings whenever one of the creatures sneaks into his blind spot and to keep an eye out for clues as to where they’re coming from.

He finds himself surprised by how well they work together, just the two of them, despite the flying sparks and embers reminding him of darker times, to the point of the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in the hint of a smile as he slowly, but steadily guides the two of them through the town. Lea’s hair follows his swift movements and it’s such a new, unusual look on him it almost feels to Isa as if they’d left their past behind for good, even if just for a brief moment.

Soon, they reach the tram common and while he tries to find a pattern in their enemies’ movements, his eyes fall onto the crack in the town wall that leads into the forest. The Heartless seem to simply _pour_ in from there, black creatures climbing on top of each other, trying to get into the town as fast as they can, like an army of demons set with only the desire to kill and maim whoever they lay eyes on.

“Lea!” he yells above the rain and roaring fire, above the hisses and snarls of the creeping shadows.

Lea turns around to him, keyblade sending another four hearts to the sky with just a single strike. “What?!”

Isa points to the forest path and he can see in Lea’s eyes that their thoughts are the same.

With a downright feral scream, Lea charges against the flood of Heartless, ignoring the claws digging into his body. Isa follows suit, pushing some of their enemies to the side until the two of them eventually make it through. The forest is barely recognizable, the floor almost completely covered by black bodies and yellow eyes, some climbing along tree trunks and branches like the spindrift of a storm tide, all of them rushing towards the town, not giving the two of them a moment to breathe, so they fight on, fight through what feels like an army of foes. Isa’s muscles ache and both Lea and him are covered in scratches and gashes and bruises - but neither of them is giving up. Guarding each other’s back, they slowly, but surely make their way to the mansion’s front yard.

On the other side of the small clearing, Isa and Lea can see that the lock on the mansion’s gate is broken and the door itself has been torn to shreds by hundreds of claws. The steady stream of Shadows is slowly decreasing although there’s still quite a few of them crawling out of doors and windows.

Isa watches them, shoulders heaving with deep, exhausted breaths. “... Lea. Look at this. They … they’re barely noticing us. I think they-”

Before he can finish his sentence, Roxas’ angry roar reaches them from within the forest, followed by Xion shouting a spell, a strike of lightning coming out of nowhere, scattering another wave of enemies, momentarily blinding Isa. 

Across the battlefield, blue eyes meet green and with a last desperate effort, Xion and Roxas charge through to their companions.

“Oh thank fuck, you made it!”, Roxas exclaims, squeezing Lea’s shoulder, while Xion rests her hands on her knees for a second to calm her breathing. Isa puts a hand on her back and she relaxes in his touch - when she straightens back up, she gifts him with a smile, one he returns before looking up at the walls of the mansion. They push themselves up against the red bricks to momentarily hide from their foes’ hungry glares.

“Seems like you two came to the same conclusion,” Isa states, looking at Roxas.

Roxas nods. “Yeah. They’re coming from the mansion. But we got that place cleared up and locked so ...”

“... we locked the front doors. But … the portal to Data Twilight Town is still open.” Xion’s voice is quiet and thoughtful. “They’re probably coming from there. And now they’re looking for hearts to devour.”

Isa’s brow is furrowed as he watches the Shadows flit back and forth on the ground around them. “... alright. Our only choice is to tear out this problem by its roots. We have to get in there and lock that portal, this time for good.”

“Hold on,” Xion says. “Before we go in there, we need to be prepared. Everyone, get close to me.”

The three of them comply, a moment of shared, comforting warmth in the heat of battle. With a few practiced movements of her hands, Xion casts yet another spell and while it’s not enough to soothe the bruises and aching limbs, the bright, green glow envelops their more serious injuries, sparks dancing along the lengths of scrapes and gashes. Blood stops dripping as breathing calms and wounds close.

Isa hadn’t realized his eyes had slipped close, he’d been too busy letting himself fall into the comfort of … his friends. The word echoes strangely in his mind like the taste of an unknown, but very sweet fruit, yet he feels like it’s the only one that fits their little group. Raising his head, he meets the gazes of all the ones around him, the same light in all their eyes.

They are friends. His friends. And they have a home to save.

They share a nod and with a unison shout make their way into the mansion, dodging the Heartless’ attacks and the dangerously sharp shards of wood and glass that are all that's left of the once majestic door.

Quickly, it becomes apparent that all of their theories have been proven right: The house is mostly peaceful aside from the creeping army erupting from the library. Through the door, which has been ripped apart, they can see the downright eerie grey-white walls of the stairway to the basement shine through between the seemingly never ending stream of Heartless.

Two small, yellow eyes appear in the impenetrable blackness and a Shadow Heartless separates itself from the mass, slithering across the floor towards them.

Just as Xion raises her Keyblade to make the first move, she stops in her tracks, eyes narrowed. 

First, Isa looks over to her and then follows her gaze, frozen in the moment as the two of them come to the same realization.

“Why aren’t they ...” Xion starts, but is promptly interrupted by Lea’s adrenaline-charged yell and Roxas following suit.

“We can wonder about that later!” Lea calls, and the urgency in his voice is almost enough to make all of them leap into action, but Xion grabs Roxas’ arm and Isa places a hand on Lea’s shoulder.

“Lea, look. They’re not attacking us …”

“... they’re running from _something_ ,” Xion finishes his sentence.

_It’s true_ , Isa thinks, _and whatever it is that’s spooked them, we’ll have to face it._

Step by step, they make their way through the churning shadows.

-

Lea is first to enter the basement of the mansion. 

Isa can imagine how he must feel, after everything that’s happened down here. Memories resurface, memories of what Lea told him about the fight with Roxas, of the desperate attempts to win back his friend. 

The staircase that leads downwards is still the same blinding white as ever, but for some reason, it seems … strange. Like everything is a little off-center, the steps are not quite an even height and the darkness that awaits them seems to creep upstairs a little further than it should be able to. 

“This isn’t normal,” Roxas says at his side, fists clenched in discomfort. “It … it’s never been this dark down here.”

“Yeah, I-” 

Whatever Lea was going to say next, he’s interrupted by a bone-chilling howl that sends a full-body shiver along Isa’s spine and makes him freeze in his tracks for a moment.

It’s awfully similar to the noises of the beast in his nightmares.

Realizing this makes his blood run cold and bile rise in his throat.

_Come on Isa, this is not the time to have flashbacks_ , he scolds himself and forces himself not to shake his head like a wounded animal. “There’s something bigger behind this,” he says instead, voice much calmer than his thoughts.

Lea just nods, his face hardened to a serious mask. “Then let’s follow that noise and take down whatever’s making it.”

They follow the staircase further down, careful as to not stumble on the uneven ground. The Shadows barely pay attention to them, instead parting their masses to let them walk towards whatever it is they’re fleeing from. 

It takes just a few moments of pushing forward until the blood-curdling noise echoes through the corridors once more, freezing them in their tracks.

“We’re getting close,” Roxas whispers, his voice so, so close to shaking. Isa squeezes his shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring - Roxas gifts him with a smile that he can’t help but return. 

“Whatever they're planning to do to our home, we won't let them.” Lea bares his teeth, grip around his Keyblade tightening until his knuckles go white.

“We won't,” Isa agrees and speeds up his pace. 

Slowly, the stream of Heartless recedes until there's just the occasional Shadow sliding along the wall, uncaring about the group steadily proceeding further towards the growls and howls that, just as steadily, grow louder and more threatening with every single step.

After what felt like an endless walk to Isa, a doorway slowly appears, the door that once belonged to it in even worse condition than the one in the main hall. The hinges are torn out of the walls, wood and glass laying shattered across the cracked tiles of the floor.

The stench of burnt hair stings in Isa’s nose, making him grimace.

Xion walks past him, inspecting the sad remains of the door. “Those are claw marks. And …” she turns around to the others “they're not from a Shadow or Soldier. Whatever is in there … it's _big_.”

Isa swallows, his heart racing in his chest, and for a moment that is far longer than he would admit, he considers turning on his heel and joining the panicked stream of Shadows, but then, Lea steps forward..

He grabs Isa’s hand and puts the other on Roxas’ shoulder, nods at Xion. “Everybody ready? Because I'm not, but what can ya do.”

He shrugs and his smile, the warmth of his joke, spreads to all of them, giving them the courage to step through the door as one, the Keyblade wielders with their weapons drawn and Isa following suit with clenched fists.

What awaits them is truly the fabric of nightmares.

A wolf-like creature is towering over them, its shoulders reaching up to three times Lea’s height. It hasn't noticed them yet, its back turned to them as they watch its claws tear into the already wrecked computer in the corner. Black goo seems to be dripping from ripped apart wires and when Isa squints, he can see green lines of ones and zeroes flash in and out all across the wolf’s body. When he looks even closer, the familiar purplish disruptions in the air that precede the opening of a portal to the other worlds … “The other Twilight Town,” he whispers. “That's where they're coming from.”

“And that's where we're going to banish this thing back to!” Roxas finishes his train of thought, teeth bared. “We have to hurry! If it gets out of the mansion, who knows what kind of rampage it's gonna go on!”

Xion swallows and readies her blade. “Alright. Everybody ready to keep this thing right where it is?”

They're not getting a chance to utter another word, because the wolf’s sensitive ears had obviously picked up on their voices. It turns around to face them, and for the first time, Isa realizes the sheer _power_ in the creature’s body. Its fur is standing on end from little bolts and sparks of electricity dancing inbetween the hairs, its silver fangs that look sharper than any razorblade are bared, saliva dripping from its mouth onto the enormous Heartless emblem that covers its chest.

And above all, Isa stares into its eyes. Large, bright round eyes, blinding like spotlight lamps and burning into his mind like the flames from his nightmares. The way these eyes fixate on him (scrutinizing him) keeps him locked in place for a few precious seconds and he's so stunned he barely notices the thing making its first move.

_It's fast_ , he thinks, gleaming fangs rushing towards him, _something this big shouldn't be this fast_ , and only Lea’s Keyblade saves him from certain death between the Heartless’s jaws.

“Not the best time to space out!” Lea growls at him, attempting to hold his ground against the giant teeth and the currents running through his blade across his skin. 

Roxas and Xion come in from the sides, blades drawn, and a howl tears through the basement as Isa sees black, code-riddled matter splash onto the floor like coagulated blood. It runs across the monster’s face from a wound at its forehead and another slash in its cheek and it seems to be deterred for just a moment, barely long enough for Isa to get up and grunt at Lea that he’ll distract the monster so they could take it down more easily. He pretends not to hear Lea attempting to call him back to the group, aand instead darts towards the wolf’s left foreleg, grabbing onto it and trying to hurt it as much as he can, equipped with bare hands and sheer desperation.

_I want to be useful_ , he thinks, grabbing fistfuls of fur.

_I want to help them_ , he thinks, holding on tighter as the monster sends more shocks through his body.

_I want to protect them_ , he nearly cries while tearing on the bunches of electrified hair.

Albeit not as effective as he hoped it to be, it does cause the beast to stagger and let out a noise of confusion, just enough of a chance for the other three to storm the monster’s other feet, attempting to injure it enough for it to fall over.

Soon though, Isa realizes he severely underestimated the other abilities of this Heartless and he curses himself for not having thought of it earlier, _before_ several bolts of lightning come crashing down out of nowhere, filling the room with a bright light, the roar of thunder and the smell of burnt debris in the spots where the bolts had struck the ground.

While the others had managed to escape the attack unharmed, now all of them are on high alert - unfortunately including their enemy. Its speed seems to double and it moves around the room like a dog chasing its tail, rabid, fast, out of control. One of its paws strikes the back of Lea’s head, visibly robbing him of all senses for a few precious seconds. On the other side of the room, Roxas lets out a gurgling noise, the Heartless’ massive leg having him pushed up against the wall hard enough to force all breath out of his lungs.

And Isa screams. In rage, desperation, worry, and the noise is so feral, so deep and wild that even the wolf itself stops in its tracks. It bends down, relaxing momentarily and releasing Roxas from his position. It seems to gaze right into Isa’s soul when it makes eye contact with him and Isa feels like in one of his dreams - so he clenches his fist and lets it fly right into the wolf’s sensitive nose. 

Blood runs down the beast’s muzzle. It howls in pain, breathes heavily - shortly after, another howl is drawn from its maw when Xion slashes away at its unprotected stomach area.

Her scream pierces the air as the Heartless’ giant paw sweeps her to the side as if she were nothing more than an obnoxious insect. Black goo drips from the gashes the Keyblade wielders have left in its skin, forming puddles on the ground like viscous, sticky ink with lines of code flashing in and out. It spares the defeated three another glance, as if to make sure these insignificant little ants won’t be able to interfere with its hunger anymore, won’t be able to keep it from swallowing this entire world and its counterpart and crushing its inhabitants’ hearts between its jaws.

Darkness crawls up the walls of the mansion.

Isa’s heart skips a beat as feral, golden eyes meet his own.

A growl rips through the silence and escalates into a desperate roar.

If one were to ask Isa later, he wouldn’t be able to tell whose it was, just that, a second later, hell broke loose.

He darts up to the Heartless in a flurry of rage and fear, all logical thought overwritten by the images of Roxas, Lea and Xion falling before the monster’s feet. He buries his hands in the fur of one of its forepaws, drags himself up its leg, small bolts of electricity rushing over his skin like little shocks from an electric fence. The Heartless tries to shake him off, it thrashes around, but he holds on with all his might and climbs up further. He’s almost reached its shoulder as agonizing pain flashes in his left arm.

His determined, reckless tunnel vision fades. 

Teeth dig deeper into the flesh of his arm and again, the Heartless’ eyes meet his, the eerie glow captivating him.

“Let me go,” he snarls even though he knows the monster cannot understand his words. “Let me _go_!” he yells, kicking at the thing with one leg, but the jaws are unyielding. It’s strange, he thinks, how much this Heartless reminds him of himself, just a few months ago …

“Hey, you furry asshole! Let go of my friend!” Lea’s voice tears through the room, a momentary distraction for both Isa and the wolf, the latter of which actually lets go of Isa’s arm in surprise. 

He drags himself further up its shoulder. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees its jaws move towards him again, only to come to a sudden halt. Black sludge drips from a wound at its temple. 

“ _I’m_ your target!” yells Lea, throwing another rock at the Heartless’ face, hitting its sensitive nose. 

It makes a startled noise, pulls a face that shows all its terrifying, unnaturally silver teeth. 

Isa pulls himself up on its shoulders, the blue, bristling fur obstructing part of his view, but he can tell by the flashes of light that all three of the Keyblade wielders are on their feet again - bruised and bleeding, but up in arms and ready to defend their world and their home.

_Our home,_ a part of Isa says. _Our world_ , it echoes in his mind. _It’s not them and me. It’s us_.

His right hand feels warm. It’s not the unbearable heat of the shocks the Heartless’ body emits. It’s something from inside, something familiar, but still strange. Like back when they were children, back when Radiant Garden Castle and the Organization and Twilight Town were far, far away from them and they spent their afternoons in the backyard, playing with frisbees and wooden swords. His fingers close almost by themselves and a flash of light blinds him for the fraction of a second.

The handle of the sword, no, the Keyblade, _his_ Keyblade, feels like it’s been made for his hand only. Warm, black leather is wrapped around the silver metal of the handle. He tenses up as he realizes the guard did take the form of his old Claymore’s peak, yet the blade itself makes his heart feel warm again. The flower from Radiant Garden’s town crest frames the bottom of a silver-lined, spiralling cloud, like the ones floating in the night sky when they cover the moon. Then there’s the key itself, an intricate construction of silver lines arranged around a golden crescent moon and a silver star that almost seems to glow with its very own light. It does, oddly enough, remind him of Xion’s Oathkeeper. 

As tough as it is, he has to tear himself away from marvelling at his newfound weapon - they have a battle to win and a home to save, the four of them together.

“Lea!” he yells and raises his Keyblade high up in the air. “I’ll keep it distracted! You three attack its legs! Don’t let it get out of this room!”

Lea’s face brightens up just as much as the flash of a Keyblade and he raises his own in reply. “Gotcha! Guys, you heard the smart boy. Let’s take this mutt back to its kennel!”

As the three of them separate towards the wolf’s legs, Isa swings his blade, slashing away at fur and sludge and data, each strike making the beast howl in a bloodcurdling manner. 

It acts like it’s rabid, prancing around, trying to throw Isa off its back - nearly squishing Roxas twice -, but to no avail. 

He holds on with one hand, strikes with the other, his blood from the bite wound mixing with the Heartless’ black essence. For a brief moment, he feels like it’s trying to draw him in, like it’s trying to keep him, drag him back down into darkness, to a place where his eyes shine as golden as the Heartless’ and where the blood on his hands isn’t his own. He lets out a feral scream as his heart races and his breathing hitches and his canines expand into fangs. The scar on his face widens, but it’s … different. Different from back then. His eyes stay green, his mind is clear like a cold morning after a rainy night and he feels three other hearts beat in tune with his own.

And he knows they can do this.

Together. As a team. As friends.

The monster stumbles, three of its paws too injured to fully support its weight. Its essence spreads on the floor, the dark substance clinging to Lea’s boots and staining the hem of Roxas’ pants. They’re all hurt, covered in bruises and scratches, their clothes torn and dirty - but they’re more alive than ever.

“It’s slowing down! Isa, how’re you doing up there?”, Lea shouts through the room.

“Holding on,” Isa growls in response, not even sure if the others can hear him as the wolf shakes and stumbles even more, its legs giving out. Isa buries his hands deeper in the sparking fur, barely holding on, the Heartless collapsing underneath him. Black mass drools from its fangs, mingled with blood and lines of code that light up a few times before being swallowed by the goo.

Silence spreads through the room, only interrupted by exhausted breathing. The wolf’s eyes flicker, the golden glow seeming to fade - until it flashes up again like an improperly extinguished flame.

A howl tears through the darkness, full of pain and rage, lightning flashes and blinds the Keyblade wielders. The shock runs through Isa’s body, his heart skips a beat and for the fraction of a second, he feels on the brink of death. When his vision clears, he’s surrounded by heavy, black clouds of darkness with electricity coursing through them as if he were in the center of a storm. The voices of his friends are gone, he can’t hear them anymore, can’t see the flashes of their Keyblades, there’s only the scratchy fur around his hands and the storm around him.

“How dare you,” he whispers hoarsely and then, louder: “How fucking _dare_ you to try and destroy my home!” Again, the heat of the Berserker state courses through him and again it ignites his heart. He grabs the handle of his blade with both hands and, with all his force, thrusts it into the Heartless’ body.

The churning clouds around him still.

The storm fades to a spark.

And when the air clears up, he sees Lea climbing up the defeated creature’s head. He’s holding out his hand and with the last bit of conscience Isa has left, he grabs it and lets himself be pulled into his friend’s arms.

“What did you _do_ in there, man? That thing summoned some kind of cloud to hide in and were trying to get you out of it and then you both appeared again and it just … collapsed all of a sudden.” Lea’s eyes flit to the wolf as if he’s expecting it to get up again. Roxas and Xion are at his side, helping to keep Isa upright.

“I don’t … it just … it just happened. Something, anyway.” Isa follows Lea’s gaze and they watch how the Heartless’ body slowly dissolves into nothingness and a shining, crystallized heart floats to the ceiling, only to fade and join its kin.

The friends look at each other and Xion smiles warmly. “We couldn't have done it without you, Isa.” 

And for some reason, Isa doesn't want to disagree with her. He just smiles back.

-

Exterminating the Heartless that had already spread throughout the town is a tedious task, but much less challenging and not nearly as life-threatening as fighting the wolf - Lea dubbed it “Thundagarou”. While a few early-risers had been mentioning odd shadows and nightmarish noises, no one had come to harm.

And when they return back to Lea’s home, Isa brews four cups of coffee, watching his friends joke around with each other, and considers moving out of his current place to live with his dearest.

-

The End


End file.
